i'm hoping the "league experiment" is over. not to say tiquiri and rodgers aren't good players, i just hope they focus on developing youth.

it's much like business, sometimes its better to upskill your juniors than to poach talent from other companies. maybe wallabies should just outsource to india
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They're looking at bringing over another high profile leaguie with all the cash they've saved from Dell and Rogers. Word is it could be Inglis.

They have been more than worth their while (even Dell), cause they're value came not only from their on field abilities but also from their marketability. Wendell was the subject of thousand's of column inches in the NRL/Cricket dominated papers of Sydney, and the were mostly good to start with.

Then there's the bums on seats factor, and many many people have been exposed to union through a wish to see Dell, Lote and Rogers plying their trade. They were a big part of getting the ball rolling for RWC2003

Employed a young guy last year as a Computer tech from India, I didn't attend the interview but my business partner said that the guy presented himself really well, was agreeable and said he that guy said that he had a good overall understanding of servers etc...

His first day with me I organised three jobs in the morning for him and after that he was to team up with another tech to do a job.

9.00AM - He rings in, I ask 'all OK?', he says 'oh yes', I say 'so your at your first job', he says 'oh yes'. I say 'everything Ok?' - he say's 'oh yes', I say 'cool, talk to you then' and hang up the phone.
9.15AM - He rings in, I ask ' everything OK?', he says 'oh yes'. I ask 'have you finsihed?', he says 'oh yes'. I say '**** that was quick, so your at your next job?', he says 'oh yes', I say 'cool' and hang up the phone.
9.35AM - He rings in, I ask 'All good?', he says 'oh yes'. I say '**** that was really quick - all went well?', he says 'oh yes'. I ask 'is the client happy?', he says 'oh yes'. I say 'so you've finsihed?', he says 'oh yes'. I ask 'so you're going to see Graham (the other tech) now?', he says 'oh yes'. I say 'cool' and hang up the phone.
10.00AM Graham calls in - he asks 'where's Asela (the indian guy)?', I say 'should be just around the corner, spoke to him about half an hour ago and he said he was on his way'. Graham say's 'cool' and hangs up the phone.
12.30PM Graham calls in - he asks (his words not mine) 'so where is the black c&nt?', I say 'he's not there?'. Graham says 'nope' and hangs up the phone (Graham by the was is 50 odd, and a very grumpy old man)

12.35PM I call Asela (the indian guy), I ask 'you've finsihed your first job right?' he says 'oh yes'. I ask 'and you've finsihed your second job right?', he says 'oh yes'. I ask 'and you've done the third one as well right?', he says 'oh yes'.

I ask him 'where are you now?', he says 'oh yes'.
He hadn't even left home...

his contract for the ARU runs out at the end of the 2007 season so rogers is playing 2008 for the titans.

got one more year in rugby he has, well thats what i read from another article. i must check that out for ya

Tuqiri to follow Rogers back to league
14 September 2006
By GREG PRICHARD
Sydney Morning Herald

Publicity surrounding the decision by Mat Rogers to return to rugby league after next year has established that fellow league star turned rugby union convert Lote Tuqiri is serious about the possibility of going back to the 13-a-side code as well.

Michael Searle, the managing director of the Gold Coast club that has signed Rogers, last night told the Herald his club's negotiations with Tuqiri had ceased only because the Wallabies star did not want to commit to any particular league club this early.

"We had been talking to Lote at the same time as we had been talking to Mat," Searle said. "Lote is certainly interested in coming back to league. I've got no doubt the circumstances will be right for him after next year.

"But we knew we only had a spot open for one more marquee player and we wanted to arrange something sooner rather than later. Lote wanted to give it another six to 12 months before he confirmed anything, and that was too difficult for us."

Tuqiri, who, like Rogers, is contracted to the Australian Rugby Union until the end of next year and is looking forward to playing in the 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, last night told Channel Nine news a return to league was a genuine option for him after that.

"I'm not going to say, 'No, I wouldn't like to play it again'," Tuqiri said. "League is always going to be in my blood. It's the first game I played. There will always be a passion there. So, probably, yes, I would like to play it again."

Tuqiri made his name as a league player at Brisbane, where he was coached by Wayne Bennett. Speculation is intense that Bennett will finally break ties with the Broncos at the end of this season and accept an offer to coach the Sydney Roosters from next season.

If that happens, and Tuqiri then goes on the league market, speculation will also be intense that the pair will link up again at the Sydney glamour club.

Rogers was yesterday confirmed as having signed for Gold Coast after the news leaked out on Tuesday night. The contract is for two years, with an option for a third. It has been reported that the deal is worth $AU300,000 per season but the Herald understands it may be worth as much as $AU350,000 annually.

Searle described the signing as a massive coup for the club and said Rogers had made no demands about what position he would like to play.

"Mat didn't say he wanted a particular position," Searle said. "He just wants to get his hands on the ball as often as possible. We're looking at him as a centre, fullback or five-eighth."

Searle said he wasn't concerned that Rogers would be 32 by the time he began playing for the Titans or that he had something of a reputation for getting injured.

"Mat is an athlete," Searle said. "Age doesn't matter with a player like him. As far as the injury talk goes, he's been unfairly labelled, as happens sometimes to players who have just had a bit of bad luck. Scott Prince got labelled as injury-prone after he broke his leg twice at Brisbane but he's done very well since."

Searle said the seed for Rogers possibly joining the Gold Coast had been sown during a chance meeting between the two in Sydney five months ago. He said negotiations had intensified over the last six weeks.

NRL chief executive David Gallop was kept in the loop on negotiations by Searle but Gallop made it clear last night the Titans were not afforded any sort of exemption to enable them to fit Rogers under the salary cap.

Gallop said the return of Rogers was a great sign for league and that league fans should be delighted by it. He said he would love to see Tuqiri back, as well.

Rogers told Nine News he hadn't considered going back to his original club, Cronulla, because it would have been too hard after his father - former Sharks chief executive Steve Rogers - died earlier this year.

"It's still hard every day," Rogers said of living in Cronulla. "I walk around Cronulla and everyone wants to talk about my dad. It burns on the inside every time someone talks about it."

The Gold Coast as a place appealed to Rogers as a lifestyle change for him and his young family and he felt he had unfinished business in league.

Cronulla chief executive Greg Pierce said yesterday the Sharks would have liked to have had the opportunity to talk to Rogers about possibly linking up again but that they were happy for him.

"Mat always wanted to go back to the Gold Coast to live eventually," Pierce said. "It'll be good to see him back in the game and we wish him all the very best."

i think the inclusion of mat will really fire up the RWC. they will need all the replacements they can get if they want to survive the world cup. or maybe if ur dieagreeing, then you could pray that mat will break his neck during the yr end internationals. thay way australia will have one less to pick, and make the all blacks job, or the les bleus job(s) easier of getting the Web Ellis trophy

Poor lil Mat Rogers - he lost the world cup for Australia in '03 and wants one more crack at it before skulking back to league. I don't think that he is going to be too much of a loss for Australia.

Although it will be interesting to see if the Australia Rugby Union continues on with their policy of recruiting league players at the expense of developing their own talent.

It will also be interesting to see if Rogers gets selected for the '07 world cup.
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Rugby don't "recruit league players at the expense of their own talent", they recruit league players becasuse we have a HECK of a lot more talent in league than in Union... In Union Australia has 4 fully professional teams, in League we have 16 (from next year). It doesn't take much intelligence to see that one code has an abundance of highly conditioned players that do nothing but focus on their sport, while another one is still mostly made up of part timers outside of the 140 or so S14 contracted players. Rogers is evidence of this. He was a solid league player, but only ever a winger and far from a certainty in the national squad... In Union he's played 40 tests and almost every position in the backline. Furthermore, it wasn't Rogers that lost us that World Cup, it was our non existant forward platform... As for now, Roger's has looked far more dangerous at 10 this year than Larkham, and if Connolley had the balls to give him more game time before his injury, I wager we may have played a fair bit better.